20231106 THE WISDOM OF GOD’S MERCY
06 November 2023, Monday, 31st Week in Ordinary Time
First reading | Romans 11:29-36 © |
God never takes back his gifts
God never takes back his gifts or revokes his choice.
Just as you changed from being disobedient to God, and now enjoy mercy because of their disobedience, so those who are disobedient now – and only because of the mercy shown to you – will also enjoy mercy eventually. God has imprisoned all men in their own disobedience only to show mercy to all mankind.
How rich are the depths of God – how deep his wisdom and knowledge – and how impossible to penetrate his motives or understand his methods! Who could ever know the mind of the Lord? Who could ever be his counsellor? Who could ever give him anything or lend him anything?
All that exists comes from him; all is by him and for him. To him be glory for ever! Amen.
Responsorial Psalm |
Psalm 68(69):30-31,33-34,36-37 © |
In your great love, answer me, O God.
As for me in my poverty and pain
let your help, O God, lift me up.
I will praise God’s name with a song;
I will glorify him with thanksgiving.
In your great love, answer me, O God.
The poor when they see it will be glad
and God-seeking hearts will revive;
for the Lord listens to the needy
and does not spurn his servants in their chains.
In your great love, answer me, O God.
For God will bring help to Zion
and rebuild the cities of Judah
and men shall dwell there in possession.
The sons of his servants shall inherit it;
those who love his name shall dwell there.
In your great love, answer me, O God.
Gospel Acclamation | Ps118:18 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
Open my eyes, O Lord, that I may consider
the wonders of your law.
Alleluia!
Or: | Jn8:31-32 |
Alleluia, alleluia!
If you make my word your home
you will indeed be my disciples,
and you will learn the truth, says the Lord.
Alleluia!
Gospel | Luke 14:12-14 © |
Do not invite those who might be able to invite you back
Jesus said to his host, one of the leading Pharisees, ‘When you give a lunch or a dinner, do not ask your friends, brothers, relations or rich neighbours, for fear they repay your courtesy by inviting you in return. No; when you have a party, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; that they cannot pay you back means that you are fortunate, because repayment will be made to you when the virtuous rise again.’
THE WISDOM OF GOD’S MERCY
SCRIPTURE READINGS: [Rom 11:29-36; Ps 69:30-31,33-34,36-37; Lk 14:12-14]
We tend to judge the world by human standards. This is only natural. We lack the wisdom of God to see beyond ourselves and beyond our time. We are even upset because God does not see things the way we do. We feel that He is unjust. This was the case of Paul when he was asked about the position of the Jews who did not accept Christ. St Paul was very consoling when he spoke about God’s fidelity to His people. He believed that his countrymen would be saved eventually. This is because, “God never takes back his gifts or revokes his choice.” God is faithful to us.
But it is one thing to say that God is faithful and another thing to explain how God can be faithful to His divine plans. St Paul of course does not really know how God would do it. Nevertheless, looking at the situation of the Gentiles when they were totally lost, yet God chose them to be His people. We know that St Paul always reached out to the Jews first before he would proclaim the gospel to the Gentiles. So he came to the conclusion that because the Jews were disobedient, the Gentiles benefitted from it. If that were the case, he hoped that it would be the same for the Jews in time to come. He wrote, “Just as you changed from being disobedient to God, and now enjoy mercy because of their disobedience, so those who are disobedient now – and only because of the mercy shown to you – will also enjoy mercy eventually. God has imprisoned all men in their own disobedience only to show mercy to all mankind.”
St Paul in positing this truth also took the point of departure from his own personal conversion to the Lord. He was then a persecutor of the Christians. But God in His mercy not only revealed Himself to Paul but chose him to be His apostle to the Gentiles. Because God showed him such great mercy, he was transformed and became the apostle of God’s mercy to others. “I am grateful to Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because he judged me faithful and appointed me to his service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a man of violence. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.” (1 Tim 1:12-14) Hence, he was also confident that those who received God’s mercy through his missionary activity would also be messengers of God’s mercy to all. His hope was that one day the Jews would come to knowledge of the fullness of divine revelation given to the prophets and completed in Christ.
In the final analysis, we can only hold on to the belief that God’s plan for His people would be fulfilled even if we do not know how it would eventually be accomplished. The truth is that God writes straight in crooked line. “We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.” (Rom 8:28-30) Hence, paraphrasing Isaiah 55:8f, St Paul wrote, “How rich are the depths of God – how deep his wisdom and knowledge – and how impossible to penetrate his motives or understand his methods! Who could ever know the mind of the Lord? Who could ever be his counsellor? Who could ever give him anything or lend him anything? All that exists comes from him; all is by him and for him. To him be glory for ever! Amen.”
Thus, we must recognize our limitations, our finite mind. Instead of doubting His wisdom, we must accept God’s transcendence and mystery. We need to surrender our lives to Him. We will never be able to understand how God works in this world. His wisdom is beyond our grasp. Even in the most absurd situation, the Lord can turn things around. Trusting in God’s wisdom and power should make us feel hopeful rather than be pessimistic. God’s way of judging is so different from ours. So whenever we see that life seems to be illogical and we cannot quite understand why God does not work or hear our prayers or work in a way that is not in our favour, we should also exclaim in faith and trust and surrender, “How rich are the depths of God – how deep his wisdom and knowledge – and how impossible to penetrate his motives or understand his methods! Who could ever know the mind of the Lord? Who could ever be his counsellor? Who could ever give him anything or lend him anything? All that exists comes from him; all is by him and for him. To him be glory for ever! Amen.”
Yet, even in the seemingly illogical way that God works in our lives, there is God’s wisdom behind it, but only those with an enlightened mind will see it. A case in point is today’s teaching on who we should invite when we give a lunch or a dinner. The Lord “said to his host, one of the leading Pharisees, ‘When you give a lunch or a dinner, do not ask your friends, brothers, relations or rich neighbours, for fear they repay your courtesy by inviting you in return. No; when you have a party, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; that they cannot pay you back means that you are fortunate, because repayment will be made to you when the virtuous rise again.'”
Why should we fear that when we invite our friends, siblings, relations or rich neighbours, they will invite us back in return? Isn’t that what most of us wish? No one wants to be taken for a ride always. We do not want to be used by people who make us pay for the food we eat all the time. So most of us are like pagans. We love those who love us. As the Lord said in the Sermon on the Mount, “For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Mt 5:46-48) In the following chapter, Jesus spoke of how we should pray, fast and do almsgiving. He said that if we do it to earn the praises of people, then we have received our reward. (cf Mt 6:1-18)
But if we want to enjoy the reward of our Heavenly Father, which is to share in His heart and in His joy and love, then the teaching of Jesus makes sense. The joy of God lies in His generosity in love and mercy. The Lord said, “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.” (Mt 5:44f) In the Book of Micah, the prophet said, “Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of your possession? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in showing clemency.” (Mic 7:18) God the Father wants us to enjoy the joy of sharing, the joy of giving, the freedom of forgiving, the perfection of His love. This is something that no amount of money can buy; only a heart that is magnanimous and not calculating.
For this reason, giving to the poor, attending to those who are suffering from injustices, illnesses and loneliness, give us great joy in life. Why do rich people become philanthropists? It is true that they are giving out of their abundance and not from the widow’s mite. Nevertheless, when they begin to see how their donations have brought so much joy and happiness to their recipients, they feel that they have done something good in their life. They feel that they have made a real difference to humanity, especially to the suffering. The joy, smile, gratitude and appreciation they see in the faces of their beneficiaries is enough to make their day. In a small way, they actually experience the joy of God’s love in them. Now, if we can do even more and give from our hearts even out of our poverty, it means that we have become like our Lord. As St Paul tells us, “For you know the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.” (2 Cor 8:9) Indeed, what gives us greatest happiness in life, is when we are capable of love, of giving, of sharing our time, resources and ourselves. This makes us truly human and divine. Only those who seek what is truly important will find it.
Written by His Eminence, Cardinal William SC Goh, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Singapore © All Rights Reserved.
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